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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

While the Amish Friendship bread starter thawed out on the counter I added 1 teaspoon of sugar, just to make sure it would have plenty of food to come back to life. This morning it was bubbly and smelled just perfect. I searched around and found an Apple Spice version of the Friendship bread, but, of course, you know me, I just had to alter it some more. Here's what I did:

1 cup Amish FB Starter

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (okay, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves, you can use them separately and yes, freshly grate the nutmeg, or leave out the cloves, its your bread, you know?)

3/4 cup chunky applesauce (my homemade)

1/4 cup apple butter (my homemade)

1 cup Quaker® Natural Granola Cereal (Oats, honey & Raisin)

1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced

Preheat oven to 325 °F. Spray 2 loaf pans with cooking spray, then dust with sugar for a real good heavy coating. Split batter between the two pans. Bake for 40 minutes. Test with toothpick in center, comes out clean.

Well, it was just a little damp at 40 minutes and the sides had not started to pull away from the sides, so I just shut off the oven and left the little beauties in there for 15 minutes. The original recipe stated that it tended to be on the dry side, so I watched it carefully. When after 15 minutes sitting in the cooling oven the toothpick finally came out clean and the sides just started to pull away from the sides I pulled it out of the oven. Please note the top was flat, not raised up in the middle like other ones have come out, but, I didn't care about that if it tastes good. I let it cool about 15 minutes and tried a sample piece. OMG!

It was delicious! and moist, not dry at all, and yes, it was cooked through! So there's my tip on this one. Just get it close to being done and turn the oven off, let it sit in there and check every 5 minutes until you get it to the "doneness" (don't think that is a word, but in cooking, you know what I mean) you're looking for.

Okay, I would be remiss if I didn't remind you that in all Friendship bread preparations it is recommended to not use metal bowls or spoons. It does not, however, say anything about the loaf pans. So I used one glass and one metal, and there was no difference between the two results. Maybe someone out there with a real degree in chemistry could explain the reasoning behind the non-metal rule. Or explain why using a metal loaf pan is different than using a metal bowl or spoon. Maybe the heat has something to do with it. I don't know. Any thoughts?